It was a sweet sweep for Sturgis as Trojans topped rival Coldwater Friday at home. The girls earned their second win in a row, 36-32, while the boys swatted the Cardinals, 58-42.

Sturgis 36, Coldwater 32 (girls)

The Lady Trojans pushed the lead to eight points in the fourth quarter, then held off a late Cardinal comeback attempt to get the victory.

"I think we played better on Tuesday," Sturgis coach Brian Beebe said. We didn't play our best game tonight and won. And that's great."

The Trojans held a 21-20 lead heading into final period and quickly built it to 30-22 on 3-pointers by Ariana George, Marissa Parker and Rachel Anderson.

"We were struggling and we needed buckets and they stepped up and made them when they had to," Beebe said. "They were the shots of the game."

Sturgis (2-9, 2-6 SMAC-East) kept the margin in that range until the final minute when Coldwater (4-8, 2-5) went on a 5-0 run to close the gap to 34-32 with 8.3 seconds left.

But George stepped to the line moments later and hit a pair of free throw to clinch the win.

"We made free throws when we had to today," Beebe said.

George finished with five points.

"She did a great job tonight," Beebe said. "She made four threes in the second half Tuesday and came out tonight and was unselfish. She doesn't force jumpers, she lets shots come to her."

Her backcourt mate Parker tallied 12 points.

"Ariana and Marissa, I didn't take them out in the second half," Beebe said. "They did a great job. I thought we had to have those two in the game and I was very happy with what they gave us."

Andersen posted a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds.

"People are going to double her all the time from now on," Beebe said. "She knows that. She does a very good job of being patient."

Coldwater jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Sturgis fought back to tie the game at 8-8 after one quarter.

A basket by Andersen put the Trojans ahead and Parker quickly followed with a foul line jumper to make it 14-11 near the midpoint of the second quarter. The Trojans led 16-14 at halftime.

The lead changed hands four times in the third quarter. The final was on a triple by Parker to give her team a 21-20 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Beebe felt it was a total team win.

"I thought our bench played well tonight," he said. I thought we got contributions from people when we needed them to win the game."

Morgan Pueschel added three points for Sturgis and Nicolette Nelson had two. Also, Courtney Lovelace grabbed five rebounds, George and Parker each had three assists and Anderson and Nelson each had two blocks.

Sturgis never trailed, built the lead to as many as 25 points and coated to the win to end a three-game losing streak.

"I really challenged them after that Battle Creek Central game," Trojan coach Keith Kurowski said. "The boys really focused the last two days of practice. They came out firing on all cylinders."

Sturgis (5-7, 2-6) scored the first three points of the game then built the lead to 12-4 after one quarter.

"It was probably our best defensive effort all year, especially in that first half," Kurowski said. "We really dug in and took away the passing lanes, the driving lanes, we contested shots, and we rebounded the ball. We really played a complete game on the defensive end."

It didn't get any better for Coldwater (5-6, 2-6) in the second quarter. Patrick Haas opened with a 3-pointer, the only made Trojan triple of the game on four shots, and Chance Stewart followed with a traditional three-point play for a 18-4 margin.

"Offensively, we were really patient with our possessions," Kurowski said. "We didn't force shots and we got alot of high percentage looks at the basket."

Stewart, who finished with a game-high 22 points, added six more points from the foul line as the Trojans increased the lead to 30-8 at halftime.

"The boys made a concerted effort to get the ball down inside to Chance," Kurowski said. "That was the game plan to get it inside early and often."

The Cardinals hit a couple of early shots in the third quarter and looked like they might make a run. But it was halted by the Trojans and they still held a 44-24 lead after three stanzas.

"They scored the ball early on us in that third quarter," Kurowski said. "Fortunately, we were able to answer their made shots with made shots of our own. But then we settled down and we didn't give up that lead. It was a total team victory."

A layup by Tyler Bennett after Jalen Cox made a steal gave Sturgis a 51-26 lead with 5:20 to go in the game.

"We come up short in the last couple of games and hopefully this will turn around in the second half of the season," Kurowski said.

Cox tossed in 13 points for the Trojans, Bennett finished with six, Eduardo Portillo and Haas each tallied five, Carl Limburg, Tyler Ater and KJ Vaughn each added two and Jack Scheske hit a free throw.

Ryan Mock and Jordan Eddy each threw in 10 to lead Coldwater, while Scout Case added seven.